Closing Ceremony

Agenda

Speaker Bios

Desai, Nitin

Delhi/Mumbai - the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Adviser for Internet Governance

In 1993 the then United Nations Secretary-General appointed Nitin Desai at the Under-Secretary-General level to head the newly created Department for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development. In 1997, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mr. Desai to coordinate, and subsequently head, the consolidation of the three economic and social Departments. Mr. Desai is also the convener of the Executive Committee on Economic and Social Affairs, which brings together the heads of all the UN Secretariat entities directly concerned with economic, environmental and social issues. Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Desai was secretary and chief economic adviser in India's Ministry of Finance. He was senior economic adviser for the World Commission on Environment and Development (The Brundtland Commission). From 1990 to 1993, Mr. Desai was the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.

Shears, Matthew

Copenhagen - Director of Public Policy, Internet Society (ISOC)

Matthew is the Director of Public Policy for the Internet Society. Matthew has extensive experience in public policy, advocacy, communications, business development and strategy in both the public and private sectors. After working as a standards and market entry adviser at the US Mission to the EU in Brussels, he worked as AT&T's EMEA Regional Director for Public Affairs, drove public affairs in Europe for the Seattle-based satellite Internet start-up Teledesic, and then moved to Cisco, where he created the EMEA Government Affairs team. Matthew is a British national and lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.